Royals walk off with series sweep of Indians

KANSAS CITY -- What began as a Royals runaway turned into a close sprint, but they still came out a winner.

Alcides Escobar's two-out, run-scoring single in the 11th inning gave the Royals a 7-6 walk-off victory over the Cleveland Indians on Thursday night to leave a crowd of 15,135 at Kauffman Stadium cheering a three-game sweep.

Eric Hosmer opened the Royals' 11th with a single off right-hander Esmil Rogers. Hosmer was sacrificed to second by Chris Getz and took third on a wild pitch. Jarrod Dyson popped out to center and Alex Gordon was intentionally walked. With that, the Indians replaced Rogers with closer Chris Perez.

No matter, on a 1-2 pitch Escobar bounced a single through the shortstop hole and he rounded first base -- throwing his helmet into the air as Hosmer scored to account for the Royals' fourth walk-off victory of the year.

It marked the Royals' first series sweep since they won three from Tampa Bay on June 25-27, also at home.